How It Works
by Adi1
Summary: A series of unconnected ficlets, mainly on characters musing about other characters. Various pairings, some gen fics, many written for memes and such. Shouldn't get higher than T, knowing my writing, and if it does it won't be for sex.
1. Kages

Summary: A reflection on Kages by one Uchiha Sasuke. 

Disclaimer: Oh, hell, no. Do I _look_ like a mangaka to you? I can't draw worth beans, I'm certainly not going to claim to own Naruto.

Sasuke had loved Konoha's Sandaime the way every Konoha-nin had. The old man had been a rock in his young life, unchanging and ever-present as the face carved into the mountain over the village. He had touched all of the villagers' lives in one way or another, and as such they had all felt his loss.

At the time, Sasuke had hated Orochimaru for killing the man. Once in Oto, when he realized that to get out of the trap he'd willingly walked into he'd have to kill his new sensei, he'd been darkly satisfied. He was, after all, an avenger by choice and necessity.

Of course, if Oto taught Sasuke anything, it was that nothing was quite that black and white. Watching was what he was best at, and he watched as Orochimaru drew his ninja to him like moths to flames. He watched as the Otokage promised each and every one of his villagers something for their loyalty, and then fulfilled his side of the bargain. He watched as even the ones who had not come willingly, who hated Orochimaru and vowed –_silently, irrevocably_– to kill him, slowly grew to be willing to die for him, for _Oto_.

Sasuke wondered, as he watched, if things would have turned out differently if Konoha had functioned on a system of reciprocity, like Oto did. He wondered as he, one of the willing citizens of this corrupt little village, trained for the power he would not have needed if Konoha had done its duty by him and its citizens and gone after Itachi when he first left the village, if life would have been better or worse if the role of avenger had been taken out of his hands while he was still young and shattered enough to allow it.

And he hated the Sandaime Hokage, just a little.


	2. KakashixSakura

AN: A ficlet for the "Why Character A Loves Character B" meme on LJ. This one: KakashiSakura

Kakashi likes Sakura because she reminds him a bit of Rin, if Rin had been able to make canyons in the ground with a single punch. But liking someone isn't the same as loving them.

He admires her because, unlike her teammates, she knows her own limitations and doesn't try to do things beyond her capability. It's a different kind of strength, one that involves trusting the people around her, and it makes Kakashi feel powerful every time she does it. But that's not enough to say what he feels is love.

He's proud of her because knowing her limitations doesn't stop her from trying to eliminate as many of them as she can, so that the number of times she needs to be saved dwindles to a handful, if that. Of course, pride isn't love, either.

In the end, Kakashi loves Sakura, not because of something she is, or something she does, but because there was one thing she didn't do.

His father committed suicide. Obito died in a rock slide. Rin died on a mission. His sensei died sealing Kyuubi. Sasuke abandoned the village to get stronger. Naruto left with Jiraiya to get him back.

Sakura stayed.


	3. TemarixGaara

AN: AN: A ficlet for the "Why Character A Loves Character B" meme on LJ. This one: TemariGaara, written for Asuka.

Temari loves Gaara because love is the only act in which Gaara is clumsy.

It's not that he's graceful, per se. Rather, every movement he makes is efficient, weighed and determined to be wholly necessary. This gives Gaara's movements a sense of purpose that very few possess. He never stumbles, because he has decided beforehand exactly where his foot is going to go. His writing is the neatest Temari has ever seen, because every stroke of Gaara's pen is exactly like the previous one. His fighting style is terrifying, because he has to move so little to kill. Temari can't count the number of times she woke up in a cold sweat from a dream in which Gaara deliberately closed his fingers into a fist.

But in love, Gaara's different. Learning to love is the first time that Temari can remember where Gaara wasn't entirely sure where he'd end up. He stumbles, he makes mistakes, he sometimes doesn't even really understand why he's doing what he's doing, why he wants to, or why someone else does. Over the years since that first chuunin exam, he's probably collected more metaphorical stubbed toes and scraped knees than anyone she's ever met.

So when he teeters on an edge he didn't really know was there, starts and flails a little and tentatively reaches out to her to steady him, she does. And she doesn't let go again.


	4. Two Cents

Ficlet Prompt, for JadeWynds on livejournal: Kakashi is ordered to adopt Sasuke, and now has to go collect him from the Uchiha Complex. Kakashi POV if you can...

So, when I started writing, Sasuke decided he didn't want to be adopted. No surprises there. Then I thought, "hey! Current canon!" and this came out. Still AU, since Sasuke obviously hadn't met Kakashi before team 7 formed in canon, but... well, see what you think!

* * *

**Two Cents**

Kakashi couldn't believe Sandaime had talked him into this.

He'd been sitting in a tree for half an hour now, watching the boy he was supposed to guard. The child had spent all of that time throwing kunai at fourteen targets while, and this was the kicker, plummeting head-first out of the largest tree in the Uchiha compound. And he missed the _same damn target every time_. How was that possible? You'd figure he'd realize that his aim was off.

Not that Kakashi really cared what he did, so long as he didn't get himself killed and cause his bat-shit crazy older brother to come after all of Konoha with the intent to kill. Slowly. He wasn't here to babysit the brat, after all, just to guard him, and after the near heart-attack he'd suffered the first time the eight-year-old had climbed a tree and dived off of it, he'd basically lost interest in the whole affair. Whatever else he needed to learn, Uchiha Sasuke could at least _land_. The problem was that he _always missed that one target_ while he did it. Kakashi admired the attention span that entailed. Personally, he was quickly reaching the end of his rope. He'd even given up on reading ten minutes ago.

It was just that it was such an _easy_ thing to fix. Rotate your wrist a little before letting the last kunai go, and the angle would correct itself enough to at least hit somewhere on the target. It was something most people would end up doing by _accident_. Only, some very determined teacher had apparently drilled the standard way to throw a kunai into Sasuke's head. All of his throws were textbook perfect, which eliminated any chance that he'd ever manage to hit upon the correct angle.

Kakashi ground his teeth unconsciously as he watched Sasuke climb the tree _again_, drop _again_, miss the target by inches _again_, land reasonably well _again_, and glare speculatively at the damned kunai lodged in the ground _once again_. At least the glare was starting to hold something close to frustration. Maybe he wasn't a robot after all...

…and he'd gathered up his kunai and was climbing the tree. Again. Kakashi felt the last thread of self-control snap. To hell with 'not his teacher.' He was about to lose his mind, and Uchiha Itachi already had the market cornered on 'insane prodigy Konoha missing-nin.'

"Rotate your wrist to the right before you make the last throw," he called down, then watched as the kid proved that he was, in fact, related to Obito by falling out of the tree and looking around wildly, eyes finally resting on Kakashi in his comfortable position in an oak about four trees behind the one with the elusive target. The kid glared. Kakashi stared back.

"Who are you? You're trespassing! Get out!" the kid snapped.

"No," Kakashi answered. The kid threw a kunai at him, and Kakashi smirked behind the mask as he caught it and threw it back. Maybe he'd put in his two cents more often after all. Just to break up the monotony.


End file.
